Poland proposes to build ports on the Baltic Sea specifically for transportation of Ukrainian grain

Poland is ready to help Ukraine export agricultural products across the Baltic Sea after russia's withdrawal from the grain deal sharply reduced Ukrainian farmers' ability to export new crops. This may require the construction of special ports, Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Telus said in an interview with Bloomberg.

"We need to help Ukraine and we understand that. We are thinking of building ports that will be exclusively for grain transportation, so-called agro-ports," Telus said.

He called on the European Union to provide funding for such a project.

According to Telus, Ukraine's grain exports through existing Polish ports on the Baltic increased to 260,000 tons in June. This is twice as much as a few months ago, when the main deliveries were made through the Black Sea. Exports through the Baltic are likely to continue to grow, and Warsaw is negotiating with Vilnius to move phytosanitary control from the Ukrainian-Polish land border to Lithuanian ports so that trains with Ukrainian grain can enter them without stopping.

This will speed up the transit of Ukrainian grains. However, the volume of such supplies is still small. During the year of the agreement between russia and the UN and Turkey on the transit of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea route, 32.8 million tonnes were exported, or almost 3 million tonnes per month.

The maritime part of the Baltic route can be quite efficient, as a significant part of Ukrainian exports goes to Europe. According to the UN, China was the main buyer of wheat and corn during the grain deal. The top 10 importers were Spain (18.2%), Italy (6.3%), the Netherlands (6%), and Portugal (2.2%).

Background. Meanwhile, Poland does not intend to lift the ban on the sale of Ukrainian grain on the Polish market. Five Eastern European countries, in order to protect local farmers, have left the possibility of transit of Ukrainian agricultural products only.